Just got back from RS Family Tour + more..

Glad to hear about your wonderful trip. A friend is on her first RS Family France trip now. It's great to hear this is a wonderful opportunity for children. RS tours are the best!

Sounds like you had a fabulous time! And thank heaven for fellow tour members. What about Italy didn't you like? (Just curious.)

Would love to know more about Chantilly. Rick seems pretty lukewarm about it in his book, but I'm thinking of going there rather than to Versailles for a third time. And you say you "returned again" to Chantilly, so there must be something wonderful about it! You can PM me if you like.

Chantilly is about the painting collection in the Musee Conde( located in Chateau)2nd bst in France next to Louvre. Also love that it is not a mob scene, grounds are much smaller , whole experience is alot more low key, I would not replace Versailles with it, it would be in addition to, for me anyways.

Italy, well, never had a good meal. Had crappy bread every day( can no one in Italy make bread, I mean they have heard of salt haven't they??) and frankly in Rome in particular always felt like I was being fleeced. Of course tourists in any big tourist city are being somewhat fleeced, but Rome , well I felt Rome takes it too a very nasty level. We were served food I would give a dog, pasta that was OBVIOUSLY reheated, and salads that were wilted, and this happened more then once. In many places I felt like I was in Mexico with hawkers circling you like prey, daughter did manage to get her a parasol( it was 100 degrees in shade there) down to 5 euros from 10 euros, and that was with TWO hawkers competing with each other for her business, and she is only a kid, I felt like grabbing her and running. They are aggressive there.

Our hotel tried to get me to pay twice for room , thank goodness I had a receipt, as I paid cash( at their request) and had to ASK for a receipt ( and got a look for that) and then later met another lady with a child staying at same hotel who had same tactic pulled on her.

Many isolated but small incidents, but it just added up to a feeling.

Felt safer walking down a street in Paris after midnight with my child then I did in many places in Rome during the day.

BUT, is Rome worth seeing. YES. I have seen it twice now, I am content.

Venice , well felt much safer there, but its sort of a place you could see once and be done with, I mean I was there with a child, so romantic walks were not a big thing for us, plus it is expenisive and just too darn crowded. Did enjoy visit to Costume Museum and quiet neighborhood cafe we found.

Pat, I hear what you are saying about Rome and Venice, but have you been to Tuscany at all? It might change your mind about Italy.

BG, we did stay two nights in an place about 25 km outside of Florence, sort of a country hotel so to speak,, area was lovely, but we did pass by some AMAZINGLY beautiful ( haunting really) dramatic hill towns ,, I would have like a chance to stay and or visit on of them, I am sure small town Italy is a better experience in many ways..

Umm... If you were on a RS tour, why did you have to pay for your hotel room in Italy. Isn't that taken care of in the tour fee?

Sue, I was in Eruope for 26 days, I arrived before the tour , spent a week in Paris, then flew to Rome to meet the tour, but I flew in the day before the tour, , so of course had to pay for the night I stayed in the hotel before the tour started.

LIsa, yes got to St Peters and Vatican, and it was amazing. In fact it almost ruined seeing any other church after that, I mean, come on St Peters is without a doubt the most amazing over the top, excess carried to excess church I have ever seen in my life. When my daughter and I got to Venice and went into St Marcos Basilica we were like " well its ok, but now that we've been in St Peters nothing amazes anymore!b LOL Not fair really,but that is how we saw it.
I know it is shcocking that I didn't love Italy, but I do realize what a treasure trove of amazing sites are there.

Pat, I have been thinking about you and wondering when you would get back. In fact, I only signed in today to see if you were home :-)

But, I am shocked to hear about Rome. We had a fantastic time in late May (spent a week for those who don't know), and rented an apartment. We were alone the whole time, and felt safe. We were never bothered by anyone, and even when we got back to the apartment after midnight, we felt safe. Maybe because my husband and son were along?

The food was awesome. My son rates Italian food higher than French! Isn't that something? I don't have a favourite city to be honest because I loved Paris as much as I loved Rome.

Now for some questions. If you were on Rick's tour, how come you had such bad food? Wasn't food included? Did you eat at the places he recommended? Unless something major happened between when we were there and your time, I am simply surprised by your experience.

We can't wait to revisit Rome.

Eli

G'day Pat...welcome home. What are treasure you are, to post an update so quickly. However...how can you not like Italy!? next trip, go to the south. Really south, to the very tip of the heel and the boot. Wonderful people, wonderful food, less tourists. I trust that your wonderful husband has the washing folded, ironing done, windows sparkling, garden in tip top shape ;-) cheers, Pat

Hi Pat, really , south Italy?? I had heard that was harder to like then northern Italy, I will have to look into that. ..

I think my biggest mistake was going in high high season( July or August) when the heat and crowds are at their worst, and likely the locals are at their grumpiest. I had no choice on that though. I also think small town Italy is going to give anyone a much better impression then the tourist hotspots like Venice and Rome( although the history in Rome was worth all the heat etc) .

No , husband had the house in shambles. Dishes were done but thats it...
Hubby lived like an animal with 2 teenaged sons for the whole time, one son said " it was great, dad never made a full dinner once, but he did steaks on the barbeque regularily and the men had " meat feasts" instead of dinners!
Hubby also proudly told me he did THREE loads of laundry while I was away. Three loads, for 3 people, for 26 days,,, and one of my sons was working as a laborer for summer, so was regularily filthy! Sheets, towels, hmmmp, apparently those are luxury items in my hubbys world!!

I miss having the maids make my bed each day and bring me clean towels!! LOL

Do you remember the name or location of the small church in Rome with the mosaics? There's one like that near Santa Maria Maggiore I've tried to visit several times, but it's always closed.

Yes Frank, I do remember, because I wrote it down in my journal ! It was not on the tourist map we had,, so we were lucky our guide had pointed it out to us during a walk about. At that time it was not opened either, it closes mid day to 3 pm, and then was open 3-6, so we returned later in the day on our own.
Basicila S Pudenzianza was the name on the plate outside the church, so thats what I have. My stepmother who is a professor had told me about the church, but I would likely not have bothered to find it if it hadn't been pointed out to me, lucky for us our walking tour passed right by it. It stands out as it is below street level also, being as old as it is.

Pat, did you see the tombs of the Pope's in St. Peter's/Vatican? I saw it a few months after John Paul 11 died. This was the most amazing thing to see. I waited in line 45 minutes to get in even in November. The summer would be really long, so I hope you had a chance to see it. It was truly amazing.
Also, I did go to Basicila S Pudenzianza. Did you see their lovely rose garden? Just beautiful.
If you don't like Italy much, it's a good thing you never been to Naples. It would really drive you crazy! But they did invent pizza, and it's very easy to get very good pizza in Naples.

Eli, I'm so glad you enjoyed Rome. Some of the best food I had in my life. I also felt safe, even at night, and I was solo! One thing the helps for me, I am Italian and look like one of the locals, and speak Italian pretty well, so I'm sure that's a plus. The only thing I don't like about Rome is the traffic!
Three more months until my trip to Milan. Hope time goes by fast! I'm going to Venice for one day. My first time there. I heard Venice is always crowded, but I'm sure not a much as summer. It should be chilly in November. But I'm sure looking forward to it. I heard also there is a great bead shop there, and I hope to find it.

Not very surprised about Rome, very hot and lots of gypsies. You would find the same in Naples. But going north, you will find less people begging.
I spent a month in Montone, which is in Umbria in beautiful villa. It was summer which was the only time time that my family could travel with school aged childred. Will not do that again! Too many people and very hot. In Rome, Venice and Florence wall to wall travelers. In smaller towns like Gubbio and Sansupulco, Assisi,Orvieto and Perugia to name a few, you get a village perspective and so lovely!
I try to only travel in May or September, no crowds and beautiful weather mostly.
I do agree France or more specifically, Paris is my first choice. As a lot of you, I cannot get enough.
Love to hear everyone's travel experiences. Can always learn something new, even for experienced travelers. Some of you sound like you are giving directions as if you were a resident! I am sure many of you have lived abroad and have tons of knowledge!

Pat...I think our husbands know each other!!! The South is seriously different, both historically, socially, culturally and geographically. Probably I need a good slap, but going to Florence (again) after Sicily and I just thought...no, this is not what I like about Italy. By Siena I was thinking of trading in my ticket home for the short hop to Palermo. I read in a book (The Stone Boudoir) that Sicily is like sex or a drug, and I agree. The pull is very strong. Selfishly, I am very happy for the majority of tourists to travel to Tuscany, because then Magna Grecia is less over-run for me. :-)

Lisa, we were actually disappointed to not see gypsies in Rome. We saw more Gypsies and beggars in Paris than anywhere else, and the begging began by both Gypsies and other folks from our first night there to the very last day! Do they switch between the cities? I just don't understand why Rome had barely any in late May...

Eli that is a amazing, my daughter and I were approached THREE times while eating at an outdoor cafe in Rome near St Peters( there again my mistake in eating so near to a major tourist site) . First by a gypsy woman holding a baby, then an old man who babbled us, held out his hand and held out his cross and shook it at us, then finally by an elderly lady who shook a cup at us. I was furious by the end of the meal as I felt the likelyhood of being approached three times was quite unusaul and noticed the cafe staff somehow seemed to always duck inside when they approached instead of chasing them away!
We saw a few by the Trevi fountain, and were approached by hawkers by the Vatican that were rather pushy , sort of reminded me of parts of Mexico.
We were approaced in Paris also, but only once by the " speak english" ladies, who we ignored.

We were never approached by, and never even saw , any beggars in Austria , Germany or Switzerland.